Aid for Cat and Her Kids in Crisis

Bottom Line Up Front: Cat needs our help and won’t ask for herself.

Cat is a single mother of two teens in the DC area. You may know her from the Fediverse as @catbailey from Infosec Exchange or @blackcatswhitehats.org from Bluesky, and you may recall a previous GoFundMe aimed at supporting the return of her car from repossession efforts that was successful thanks to your help. Cat found a position with CISA as a senior penetration tester on a contract red team and was instrumental in supporting the agency, with her work earning internal accolades and awards. Her trajectory was trending positive, and she was able to address outstanding expenses that had piled up during her prior unemployment.

Unfortunately, like a lot of us, Cat’s world was turned upside down by the events of 2024-11-05 and 2025-01-20. The current administration has made cutting federal contracts and services in the name of efficiency a major priority, and Cat and her team’s contract with CISA was an early casualty. No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, I hope you understand these cuts have imposed a massive human cost for employees and contractors impacted. Shortly afterwards, she suffered a flare up of a medical condition previously misdiagnosed by multiple providers, resulting in severe illness, near hospitalization, and substantial medical expenses with no insurance to cover them.

Cat is now at a point where she has no alternative but to ask for help, which doesn’t come easily for her. She’s fiercely independent and committed to making things work. In the coming days, she’ll need funds to cover utilities, Internet, cellular service, and food so that she can keep fighting for herself and her kids.

If you’ve got any leads on work as an information security manager, blue teamer, or penetration tester, you’ll have a hard time finding someone more capable, and I highly recommend reaching out to her, sharing opportunities, and promoting her within your network. None of that will amount to a hill of beans if we can’t keep her and her family fed and housed for the time that process takes.

Beyond addressing the immediate cost of living until she starts being paid by a new job, Cat plans to put funds towards obtaining passports for herself and her children. As she took her husband’s last name when married and then lost her children’s father, this will be necessary in the event the SAVE Act passes. Any funds past these needs will go towards ensuring stability for her family, supporting her efforts to rescue feral feline friends, and helping others in need. I promise you though, Cat won’t let us keep this up a moment longer than necessary.